Paddington Station Including The Lawn, Gwr Office Block On London Street And Offices Along Eastbourne Terrace

Paddington Station is a major railway terminus built in 1851-4, with a fourth train shed added in 1914-16 and further alterations mainly in the 1930s. The original station was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel as engineer, Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt as architect, and Sir Charles Fox as contractor, with decorative assistance from Owen Jones, all for the Great Western Railway. The fourth shed was designed in-house by the GWR's New Works Engineer, W Armstrong. Additional office buildings date from 1881, the early 20th century, 1933-4, and around 1965, with the 1930s work by PC Culverhouse, Chief Architect of the GWR. The train shed was restored in 1989-2001 by Aukett Associates, and a new 'Lawn' building was constructed in 1999-2000 by Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners.

Exterior

The London end of the station is completely hidden by the Great Western Royal Hotel. The main visible frontages are along Eastbourne Terrace to the south-west, with an office block and the 1914-16 train shed along the north-east side facing London Street. The Bristol (north-west) end of the station is open.

The Eastbourne Terrace elevation comprises buildings from several periods, varying in storey height due to falling ground and the depth of the railway cutting. From the south-east: seven bays belong to the hotel (1851-3); then 18 bays of GWR offices (1930-36); seven bays of GWR offices (1881); a 1960s rebuilding of World War II bomb damage; 26 bays; 17 bays; two bays; 10 bays; and 17 bays, all dating from 1851-4 except the two- and ten-bay sections which are early 20th century.

The 1930s office block (18 bays) was built in two phases, with the eight bays nearest the hotel completed in 1936. Probably designed by PC Culverhouse, it is six storeys with attic and basement, sharing cornice and roof lines though differing in other architectural details. This building is partly or wholly in hotel use.

The 1881 seven-bay building is incomplete, having lost two bays when it abuts the bomb-damaged area. It is four storeys with attics, built of Portland stone with a Welsh slate roof, and appears inspired by the Whitehall Banqueting House.

The 1960s structure is a two-storey glass and steel replacement for the gap caused by a parachute mine in 1941.

The next 26 bays survive from an original terrace of 32 bays, the right-hand end lost in 1941. This section is three storeys with an attic said to have been added around 1930. The terrace is rendered, except the attic storey which is brick with stucco dressings. The first and second floors have lost architectural detailing and chimneys since World War II. The ground floor, by contrast, has elaborate Victorian stucco decoration by Matthew Digby Wyatt, marking the original principal entrance to the main departure platform, Booking Office, First-Class Waiting Room, and the royal route to Windsor. A light steel roof, post-World War II, covers the cab-road (extending through the 1960s section above). This roof is supported on the street side by a panelled brick wall topped by rusticated stone piers and elaborate cast-iron railings.

The next 17 bays are set back but otherwise similar. At the left-hand end, the first six bays at ground floor are obscured by an early 20th-century tented glass and iron porte-cochère with a ridge and furrow roof.

The two- and ten-bay block, though similar in character, appears to be early 20th century. It is taller, with five storeys and attics, though the first two bays have only four floors.

The final 17 bays of the terrace, extending nearly to Bishop's Bridge, are four storeys, with the uppermost probably added in the early 1930s.

The north elevation facing the cab-road and London Street, following the hotel and its 1930s extension, includes a six-storey office block of 1933, probably steel-framed and faced in artificial 'Victoria Patent' stone. Designed by PC Culverhouse, its blind attic floor features giant Gill Sans bronze lettering reading "GWR PADDINGTON GWR", with the second "GWR" on the return.

Opposite the station buildings is the panelled brick retaining wall of London Street, on the other side of the cab-road, dropping to the arched entrance of the 1914-16 span. The arch is glazed and bears the GWR arms on its crown. The shed has a steel outside wall and is roofed in a patent tiling system with four glazed lights along the ridge.

A metal-sheeted rail depot at the north-west corner (operated by Red Star in 2008) is not of special interest. However, the structural deck beneath, fronting onto the raised section of London Street and covering the underground northernmost platforms, dating from 1906-14, is of special interest and included in the listing.

The north-west (Bristol) end of the station reveals the glazed ends of the four sheds, their roofs of corrugated steel sheeting, corrugated glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), and glazing. Originally the roofs were covered with corrugated iron, with ridge-and-furrow glass along the ridge. The 1916 screen is carried on a large steel lattice girder, and the join between the plain steel arch of this span and the decorated iron arch of the 1854 span is of interest. All platforms were extended in concrete towards Bishop's Bridge in 1930-34 and given steel island canopies.

Interior

The office range along Platform 1 and Eastbourne Terrace originally contained Royal, First and Second Class Waiting Rooms, the Board and Directors' Rooms of the GWR, as well as the Booking Office and Refreshment Rooms. Some of these uses survive but all spaces have been altered and divided. Several stone staircases with wrought-iron balustrades remain. The frontage to Platform 1 is single-storey with arcaded treatment matching the street facade, designed by Matthew Digby Wyatt. Features include a five-bay open arcade through to the street, with the centre carrying the fine three-faced station clock supported on elaborate brackets; the Stationmaster's balcony, an elaborate triple oriel with arched openings and Moorish-style ironwork; and the GWR War Memorial of polished granite and Portland stone designed by TS Tait, with a fine bronze figure of an infantryman by Charles Sargeant Jagger. The base is inscribed "In honour of those who served in the World Wars 1914-1918, 1939-1945. 25,479 men of the Great Western Railway joined His Majesty's forces, 2,254 gave their lives."

Beyond the east end of the train shed is an area traditionally called 'The Lawn', originally open, which was roofed over in 1933-4 and is now filled with a two-storey glass and steel envelope of 1998-2000 designed by Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners. Within this is the rear wall of the Great Western Royal Hotel, which received a new wing running across this elevation in 1936.

In the concourse south of the platforms are a number of late 20th-century kiosks, generally not of special interest.

Roof Structure

The roof comprises four spans: three designed by Brunel and constructed in 1852-4 by contractors Fox, Henderson and Co, with the fourth and largest added by the GWR in 1914-16. All were restored around 2000. The five-centred arches are carried on hexagonal steel columns, which replaced the original cast-iron ones in 1916-24. Wrought-iron arches above have bolted-on decorative work in the Moorish style by Matthew Digby Wyatt and Owen Jones. The arches were originally untied; curved wrought-iron ties were added in 1916. All were fully restored in 1998-2000, including the Bristol end screens. The roof members are pierced by stars, planets, and other shapes, both decorative and to assist with fixing scaffolding. The fourth (1916) span has been partly ceiled by a canvas awning of 2000 at the London end, designed by Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners. While of lesser historical or engineering significance than the 19th-century Brunel spans, the fourth span was carefully designed to complement the existing roof, is an impressive space in its own right, and forms an integral part of today's station. Another notable feature within this arch is the enormous steel and concrete (Hennibique) support for London Street above, when constructed the largest structure of its type.

History

Paddington station first opened for the GWR in 1838 as a temporary terminus immediately west of Bishop's Bridge. This station was largely timber and used the bridge arches as entries. The new station was built a quarter of a mile east in 1851-4 to Brunel's designs, with architectural assistance from MD Wyatt and decoration from Owen Jones. Trains began running on Brunel's broad gauge tracks in 1861, with the last broad gauge train leaving in 1892. Paddington received its first major addition in 1863 when the Metropolitan Railway's Hammersmith and City station (originally called Bishop's Bridge) was added on the north side. This was enlarged in 1876 and later incorporated into mainline Paddington. Increased traffic led to quadrupling the track out to Slough in 1879. In 1880 Paddington became the first major London public building to be lit by electricity, permanently from 1886 using the GWR's own power station at Park Royal. A major improvement programme of 1906-16 included rebuilding all ten approach over-bridges with large steel spans, finished in 1914. Meanwhile the fourth roof span was added to the north side in 1912-16. Following this, the cast-iron columns supporting Brunel's roof were replaced with the present steel ones in 1922-4 (those in the north cab-road having already gone in 1916). This work was designed by Company Engineer WW Grierson and erected by the Cleveland Bridge Company. A second major rebuilding programme of 1930-34, following the Development (Loan Guarantees and Grants) Act of 1929 to alleviate unemployment, included platform extensions, construction of 'The Lawn' as a passenger concourse (now redeveloped), and building two new office blocks and extending the hotel. The station was badly damaged by bombing during World War II, and not all damage was made good. With the end of steam traction in the 1960s the station was cleaned, the concourse enlarged in 1968-9 and again in the 1970s. The approach tracks were re-laid and re-signalled in 1992-4, and simultaneously the Brunel roof was progressively repaired and decorated. Finally, 'The Lawn' building was demolished in 1999 and replaced by a larger and more attractive version designed by Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners, which also supervised restoration of the Brunel shed end screens.

Paddington Station is designated at Grade I as one of the earliest major railway termini to survive in Britain, and an important component of the history of the Great Western Railway. It is a major work by IK Brunel, the foremost engineer of the Victorian Age, in collaboration with Sir Charles Fox and Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt. It is of outstanding architectural quality, a landmark in railway architecture, and an historically significant exercise in large-scale wrought-iron construction. It represents one of the major surviving works by Fox, Henderson & Company, one of the most important and innovative iron construction firms of the mid-19th century. It is an important instance of ornament being developed specially for iron construction, by Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt in collaboration with IK Brunel. While of lesser historical and engineering significance than the Brunel spans, the 1914-16 Span 4 also has claims to interest and is included in the listing.